The signs at Tatum Ridge Golf Course off Fruitville Road provide a clear warning for golfers to watch out when they head over to the No. 10 tee.
There, less than 10 feet from the cart path, hole marker and ball washer at No. 10, sits a patient and proud yet determined mother who does not take kindly to strangers. She’s a 5-foot-tall sandhill crane, and she’s sitting on eggs right there next to the teeing ground.
The course put up the warning signs because while sandhill cranes — known for their thin long legs, bright red-topped heads, and casual approach to humans — can turn nasty if their nests are messed with.
And she’s just so close to the tee box that any curious golfer could make a wrong move and end up attacked by a bird that has a long pointed beak and can dance up to 15 feet in the air while mating or when in danger.
Tatum Ridge officials posted signs like this to warn golfers to stay away from a nesting mother sandhill crane.
Once again, it goes to show how golf courses, golfers and nature can, and often do, all get along peacefully and with mutual respect.
The course and its players will be lucky in a few weeks because there are few things cuter than baby sandhill cranes, that start off like fluffy little brown tennis balls with legs but soon grow into taller fluffy brown babies that follow their mother everywhere.
